1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus and an image communication method.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 10 shows a conceptual view of a prior art computer based multi-point image display system. In the multi-point image display system shown in FIG. 10, image communication terminals 1202, 1203, 1204, 1205 and 1206 are connected to a network 1120 to form a multi-point image display system which allows mutual communication of images, voices and data among image communication terminals. In FIG. 10, numeral 1201 denotes a communication terminal housing.
The network 1120 is a bus type network such as Ethernet (trademark). In the present example, the image communication terminals 1203, 1204, 1205 and 1206 are image transmission terminals.
In the above prior art apparatus, when a plurality of image transmission terminals 1203-1206 simultaneously transmit images, collisions (a plurality of communication terminals transmit packets simultaneously and the packets are broken) occur on the network 1120 and image packets may be lost. As a result, the images cannot be successfully reproduced.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problem.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce the collision occurring on the network.
It is other object of the present invention to permit immediate operation for displaying the images after a plurality of image packets have been received.
The present invention is featured by forming the image by an image forming request noticed by request notifying means and notifying the image forming request before an image transmission request.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an image communication apparatus and an image communication method which have a novel function.